Department of Chemistry, Physics, and Atmospheric Sciences – PHYSICS
College of Science, Engineering, and Technology

The Department of Physics, Atmospheric Science and Geoscience conducts forefront research in several major areas. Faculty members have been active in securing federal funding from National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, Army Research Office, and Department of Education. Faculty research provides undergraduate students with on-campus research opportunities in well-equipped laboratories as well as with off-campus Summer internships at US leading universities.

Our faculty members are active in the following research areas:

Physics
Condensed Matter Physics
Faculty:  Q. Dai, S. Goupalov, N. Pradhan, T. Shahbazyan,​ J.-G. Zhou

The research activities are conducted in synthesis, and characterization of material for energy, engineering, and theoretical studies of metal and semiconductor nanostructures. The goal of energy research is to improve the stability and power conversion efficiency of solar cells, including perovskite solar cells, dye sensitized solar cells and quantum dot sensitized solar cells, by structure engineering and nanomaterial incorporating. 

Optical Physics
Faculty:  S. Goupalov, T. Shahbazyan, S. Yang

The research activities are conducted in optical spectroscopy of material for engineering and medical applications, transport and optics in low-dimensional nanomaterials, and theoretical studies of such materials nanostructures. The research in medical applications of optics focuses on the development of novel laser spectroscopy and imaging system and translation discoveries in optics to the resolutions of medical problems. 

Physics Education
Faculty:  P. Chang, M. Fadavi, A. Khan, V. Shankar

The research activities refer to both the methods currently used to teach physics and to an area of pedagogical research that seeks to improve those methods. Physics Education Research also utilizes theories and techniques that measure the learning of physics by students. While much of the work in this field focuses on these 'traditional' students, but the department extends its reach to professional development for pre- and in-service teachers of physics and physical science at the K-12 levels in an attempt to better teachers.

Meteorology and Earth System Science
Faculty:  E. Heydari, D. Lu, S. Reddy, L. White

The research activities in Meteorology program refer to weather modification and control, forecast, air pollution, aviation, climatology, tropical weather, mesoscale meteorology, satellite data analysis, geographic information systems – remote sensing (GIS-RS) and their applications to Meteorology, and modeling, The research in Earth System Science program refer to many aspect of Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks of the U.S. Gulf Coast, Permian – Triassic boundary strata, petroleum reservoirs, and the most recent endeavor is the geology of the planet Mars.